Tech Review: Huawei Honor 8

Camera is the next frontier when it comes to the smartphone war. Under its Honor brand, Chinese smartphone maker Huawei has unveiled Honor 8 – one of the few premium devices, apart from Huawei P9 and iPhone 7 Plus, that offers a dual-camera in the country.

What stands Honor 8 apart from the other two devices is its flat back. The two 12-MP cameras at the back sits neatly within the frame and do not protrude out.

The second-generation 12MP dual camera system captured more light and gave us a crisp picture with vivid colours.

It comes with two modes. The Wide Aperture Mode helps users take photographs with a shallow depth of field as well as adjust the focal point of a captured photo to blur the background and make your subject more prominent.

Professional mode offers a digital SLR-level photo experience – giving users full control over the camera’s ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation and more.

Honor 8’s dual-function advanced fingerprint reader sits comfortably at the back in the centre.

The level-four fingerprint acquisition algorithm promises enhanced security and smart features that make it more accurate with use.

Huawei claims that the sensor can read fingerprints in 0.4 seconds. And they are so right as it unlocked the phone in less than a second!

For rapid 3D fingerprint recognition, select Fingerprint ID in the settings menu, register and you can manage five sets of fingerprint records.

Housing a 3,000 mAh battery with fast charging technology, the battery lasted for a lag-free experience for nearly a day and a half on moderate usage like social media, gaming and watching movies or nearly 10 continuous hours of offline video binging. We also found that the device can handle multitasking well and runs 4K videos without hassles.

The latest Emotion UI 4.1 version makes the user interface quite comfortable and has features that allow users to get the best network for a smooth browsing experience.

The Smart Key feature helps access text messages with one touch. Try double tapping to record quick notes using the voice recording function.

The Knuckle Sense feature allows users take partial or full screenshots with the tap of knuckle and unlock features quickly and easily.

To start recording a video, double-tap the screen with two knuckles, and to stop and save the recording, double-tap with two knuckles again.